Surrendered Identity

When we surrender to God we discover who we are supposed to be. This willingness to release our tight grip on our lives and grab onto God isn't necessarily a natural reaction, but it's essential. Any other way of living is a stubborn refusal to acknowledge God's sovereignty. It might appear this surrender is a sign of defeat when in reality it's aligning ourselves on a path guaranteed to bring us victory.

(Trying To) Wave the Flag

Each month on the last Saturday our church invites men to get together for breakfast and a chance to grow. There are no strings attached as it is simply a place to be part of community, hear a teaching intended to help men mature, and engage in conversation around a table. I always tell guys if they get nothing else from the experience at least they will eat a great meal for $2.

This morning we talked about the tough topic of surrender and how we are called to live a life that is increasingly surrendered to the call of Christ. This is admittedly not easy for most people, but part of the nature of men can make it even more difficult. Our stubbornness can inhibit our willingness to submit to God's authority. Our pride can build up enough resistance and prevent us from choosing God's path even if it's clearly the better option. Surrender is not a one time decision either, but must be a consistent part of our journey of faith.

I will admit my own struggles with the practice of surrender. I recognize that God's way is more perfect than mine and yet still have difficulties with following Him completely. I won't always get it right (who ever does?) but hope that my continual awareness and intention of surrender will lead me right where I need to be. As I decrease my level of control in my life, He must increase. It's the only way I can be assured of ending up where I belong.

Mystery Creations

My family & I really enjoy a show on the Food Network called, "Chopped". It's a cooking contest show that brings on four chefs to impress a panel of judges. They are given a mystery basket that contains odd ingredients that they must whip into a tasty dish if they want to survive. It's a high-stress show (especially in the final seconds of each elimination round) that showcases the quick-thinking abilities of these select chefs. We watch because it's always interesting to see what creative thing they are going to come up with in the allotted time period.

I don't fool myself into thinking that I could be as successful as any of the chefs on that program. They are much more talented than I am and are able to make something amazing out of what appears to be very little. It reminds me of how God works with each of us. We may not believe that we have much to offer personally, but if we are willing to turn it over to God we will see something amazing. God is always able to do more than we ask or imagine, but He won't seize control of our lives and force us to submit to Him. The choice is always ours and the end result of our faith in Him will always be more than we thought it could be.

Clean House

People's perceptions of what it means to clean house are not identical. Some people would be content with simply cleaning the surface without removing deep layers of grime. Others would feel things were clean if clutter was removed from sight even if it was shoved into a drawer. Then there are those who will devote hours of scrubbing, sorting, and disinfecting and still won't be satisfied with the results. It's our definitions of "clean" that vary and can cause conflict and confusion.

Submitting ourselves to God and asking Him to cleanse us doesn't involve a negotiable definition. We don't get to ask God to extricate us from messy situations, but leave us alone in the sinful habits we are comfortable holding on to. We cannot reserve the right to ask God to pull back on His personality and purification process. We either fully submit to Him or we don't submit at all. If all of God does all that God does, we can't surrender any less. This means that we have to be willing to surrender our mental focus, habits, words, relationships, attitude, aspirations, and behaviors.

If we're going to clean house for God we've got to deep clean the whole house by His standards and not our own.

Abandon

Charles de Foucauld was a priest in the early 1900's that didn't begin his true journey of faith until later in his adult life. He was no stranger to wealth and was known for a fairly extravagant lifestyle. While serving in the military he observed people who were adamant about their faith and he developed an interest in discovering what this meant for himself. As he explored Christianity and cemented his faith, he gave away his financial rights and become a priest. He wrote a prayer called, "The Prayer of Abandonment" that is quite humbling to read from a personal perspective. It's a reflection of his search for God and his desire to submit all of his life to God's purposes and not his own. It's a prayer that I aspire to pray in complete commitment of my life purposes to God's direction.

Father,

I abandon myself into you hands; do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you;

I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.

I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;

I offer it to you

with all the love of my heart,

for I love you, Lord,

and so need to give myself,

to surrender myself into your hands,

without reserve,

and with boundless confidence,

for you are my Father.

Surrender to Win

I am still processing all that I want to accomplish and how I want to grow in 2014. I know that there are others in this same position of seeking positive change & establishing new habits. I am also woefully aware of my past failings in this arena and want to make sure that I don't fall short again this year. As I meditate on what I hope to see take place, I realize that my best chance of success actually comes from my willingness to surrender. I don't mean that I should give up, but that I should surrender myself to God's will, direction, and power. It's in my desire to cede control to Him that I can truly be able to find the consistent success that I am searching for. This doesn't mean that I will sit back and do nothing to work towards my objectives, but that it will be fueled by the Perfect One who never changes.

I offer this simple prayer below as a help to me (and others) in an effort to surrender:

Lord Jesus, I need You in my life now more than I ever have. I have very little joy, peace, and passion in my life. I confess that I have been trying to have the best of both worlds, that I have been double minded, and that I have been seeking the God I have wanted and not the God who is. I am so sorry, and I repent. Please forgive me. Thank You for loving me so much that You would die for all my sins so that I can have eternal life. Make me into the kind of man I've been striving to be. Make me into the man I know that I can be with the power of Your Holy Spirit. Create the change in me that needs to take place so that I can commit my life completely to You. I pray this in Your name, Jesus, and for Your glory. Amen.*

*This prayer is adapted from Patrick Morley's book, How God Makes Men. 

Captivity

There is a saying that I have used many times over the years in teaching (not my original work)-thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits, habits become character. It can be a positive factor in life, but more often than not is a negative. My thought life is something that I struggle with-my mind is often my greatest enemy. I allow thoughts of inferiority to creep in, misperceptions of people and their reactions to me, impurity that frustrates me to no end and even speculation that my imagination runs wild with.

As I was mowing this weekend and my mind wandered (sometimes in positive directions) I reminded myself of the verse in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that challenges us to take every thought captive. As I thought of this verse however, I almost laughed out loud. "Really God? You want me to take captive the thoughts that I can't control even though I try? And what exactly would that look like?"

It wasn't until this morning as I was praying that I realized the only way to take my thoughts captive is to surrender them. I know that seems like an oxymoron-how can you capture something that you need to surrender? That is the whole story of God though-surrendering something/everything and yet finding victory instead of defeat.

Surrender

I pray quite a bit for success in ministry and life and for God to show me what path He wants me to take as a pastor. There are many times that I feel I am waiting for an answer that never comes, so of course I pray harder. I pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will change me and guide me down the right path.

My thinking has been challenged this morning by Watchman Nee and his book, The Normal Christian Life. In it he says that the Holy Spirit is in us and ready to work if we are baptized believers. We don't have to ask for it-it's already there. If that is true then the true heart of the matter comes down to our recognition of Him. A big part of that also comes down to surrender.

Are we willing to submit ourselves to the will of God-no matter what it may look like and where it may lead us-or are we caught up in our agenda and routine that we do not surrender it all? Perhaps the reason that we feel spiritually "out-of-touch" or "out-of-sync" is that we have a blockade up against the moving of the Holy Spirit. Instead of praying for more of God, maybe our prayer should focus on asking God to reveal that hindrance(s) in our life so that we might fully realize who He is. Surrendering that relationship, habit, goal, priority, reputation, material object or sin may be what God is waiting for so that He can reveal His full power in our life.

The process is not easy-in fact it can be quite frustrating-but to fully embrace God as the King of your life it is necessary and certainly rewarding.

Psalm 73:25 "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides You."